Why Nobody Is Playing Your Indie Game... And What To Do About It

In this video, I'll show you exactly why it's so hard to get attention when you're a small indie game dev. And then I'll give you simple 3 step techniques you can use today to help you start finding players and grow your audience and wishlists.

Hey, my name is Dariusz. Thanks for joining.

Here's what you need to know and what to do...

The Indie-Apocalypse

The reason it's so hard for you to find players, grow your audience, get wishlists, and sell your game isn't because the market is oversaturated. Too many games studios making too many indie games IS NOT the problem.

Actually, if you look at other industries like movies, books, music, cars, sports shoes... there are always people making NEW stuff... all the time.... every day.

EVERY market is "oversaturated".

Again, it's not that there are too many games in the market why it's so hard to get attention.

The real reason why nobody is checking out your game is because of NOISE.

I call this wasteland of noise that players have to sift through The Indie-Apocalypse.

The Indie-Apocalypse is when so many indie game devs are out there self-promoting their stuff, that it all just ends up in one heap of content that most gamers just ignore.

Content like gifs, screenshots, demos, articles, blogs, podcasts, tweets, instagrams, ads... whatever.

You see, there is so much CONTENT game devs are publishing that it all just ends up in a big pile of noise that the gamer has learned to ignore.

Plus, gamers live in a dopamine-overloaded world. It's so easy for them to compulsively get what they want, right now, with little effort. And big game studios know this. And they specifically design games to hijack a players brain, overload them with dopamine rising triggers, and keep them playing.

So how is a small indie game supposed to get attention in The Indie-Apocalypse? Well, not all of it is doom-and-gloom. There is a way out. Let me explain...

If A Gamer Has To Struggle Through All This Noise, They Are Less Likely To Find Your Game and Play It

Again, the problem isn't that there are too many games, it's because there is too much noise. The gamer has to sift through to find a game they want.

They WANT all these games. The more choices the better. But finding a game is now the hard part.

You see, gamers will ALWAYS need to play NEW games (and even old games). You don't have to create that desire. The desire is already in them. They will go out of their way to fulfill a need.

For example, one game will fulfill a gamers needs. Then the gamer gets bored. And a NEW need arises. So they go out and actively search out a NEW game to fulfil a new need.

Boredom is a great motivator.

But there's a paradox when it comes to too much choice. When there's too much choice, we often resort to not picking... or we go back to what we know and not try something new.

And because getting a dopamine hit is so very easy today, gamers will often take the path of least resistance, and go back to the games they know.

Again, if a gamer has to struggle in any way, they're going to stop and ignore you. They will always take the path of least resistance, and go to the games they know or the games they hear about because those games often have a lot of marketing money behind them.

So what do you do as a small indie game dev that has no marketing money? How do you get attention in this wasteland of content and self-promotion that the player is ignoring?

Let me show you how, next...

Specificity = Attention

People want to feel that things are made specifically for them.

Let me show you an analogy so you can easily understand how specificity means you'll get more attention for your game....

For example, say you're a runner. Are you going to buy an "all-in-one" shoe that you can use for work, basketball, casual, and running?

No, you want a shoe made for running.

But then what kind of running? Long-distance running? Track? Ultra marathon?

And even within each type of shoe, it gets even more RIDICULOUSLY specific. For example, there's running shoes for the road only... and running shoes for trail running. There's track shoes with cleats for short distances, and track shoes with less cleats for long-distance track. Same with Ultra marathon shoes, there are ultra marathon shoes made specifically for what terrain you're going to race on.

You see, each shoe company wants to ELIMINATE 95% of shoe buyers, and only focus on the 5%. That's because by making shoes to a very SPECIFIC buyer, is how they cut through the nose, and get attention.

Again, people want to feel that things are made specifically for them. And people who do sports want shoes that are made specially for whatever activity they're into.

And that's my whole point: If you want gamers to play your game... if you want to cut through all the noise... you have to show them through your marketing how your game is made specifically for THEM.

THIS is how you peak desire. This is how you get your game to stick out in an oversaturated market place. This is how you and your indie game studio can survive the Indie-Apocalypse.

You gotta know who your players are, what they want, and what they don't want.

And then you gotta clearly communicate the benefits of your game and why it's different -- so that the player knows your game is specifically made for them.

Ok, great. But how do you do this exactly then?

Well, let me show a 3 step technique you can use right now to help you find players...

Indie Game Marketing: 3 Step Technique Showing You How To Get Gamers To Play Your Game...

If you're a small indie game studio, and you don't have a big audience, then it'll be really hard to get traction if your marketing message is vague. That's because if you're vague, you just sound like every other game that is piling onto the content wasteland that is ignored by gamers.

But if you get specific, and so that your marketing message about your game is understood right away, then you'll start gaining traction -- because specificity = attention.

So now let's get to work!

Have a pen and paper ready. Pause the video, and write down some notes. Because at the end of this 3 step technique, I want you to take action, and see how this will help you gain some traction and help you find players..

Ok, here's...

Step 1: Go FOUR Layers Deep When Describing Your Genre

Most devs describe their genre as too shallow. What I mean is, they'll go only two layers.

For example:

Layer 1: Roguelike
Layer 2: Action Roguelike

But this is like saying Running Shoes

Layer 1: Shoe
Layer 2: Running

But what KIND of running shoes? Trail, road, ultra?

It's the same with your indie game. Go another two layers deeper.

Let me show you:

Layer 1: Roguelike
Layer 2: Action Roguelike
Layer 3: Top Down Shooter
Layer 4: Post-Apocalyptic

Let me break these layers down so it's easy to understand:

Layer 1 = Your main genre
Layer 2 = Your sub-genre
Layer 3= Type of combat (i.e. top down shooter, turn-based, 3rd person, etc)
Layer 4 = Setting / Theme (i.e. post-apocalypse, cyberpunk, steampunk, fantasy, comic-book, etc.)

This is a very important step because one of the first things a gamer does when hunting for a game is to judge it first on the sub-genre.

Then they look for what type of combat mechanics the game is. Then what setting or theme.

Remember, gamers want games made specifically for them. They are going to use your genre and description of your game as a short-cut to see if the game is made for them.

And a gamer won't play every game they see for 2 hours and decide on a game to see if it's made for them. No, what they'll do FIRST is judge the game by its sub-genre as a shortcut to see if they want to look into this game a bit more.

This is especially true when a player doesn't know you or ever heard of you. If you can't rely on your brand name or your past games, then you need to focus on the player, and make it easy for them to know "what's in it for me".

So if you're too vague, and try to be mysterious, or try to build "wonder", it won't help you gain traction. Yeah, if you already have a huge audience, and people know what to expect from you because they've played your past games -- then sure, this doesn't really apply. You can get by with your brand name and good-will.

But when you're small, and have a small audience or no audience, then you gotta play a different marketing game.

So, narrow your sub-genre down into at least 4 layers because the more specific you are, the better chance you'll get attention.

Ok, onto...

Step 2: Be Specific In Your Marketing Message

You got your sub-genre and description dialed in. Great! But getting your sub-genre and description done, is only the first step. Your next step is to SHOW a gamer what your game is.

Small indie game devs fail to underestimate the power of explaining what their game is. They assume that all a gamer has to do is look at pretty screenshots or gifs, or watch a well-made trailer, and the player will get instantly hooked.

But persuading people takes a lot more than that.

For example, a track runner may look at the design of a shoe, and they might think it looks pretty. Looks always are important in getting the initial attention. But they won't know if it's made specifically for a sprinter... unless they are TOLD this. For example, the marketing will specifically talk about traction, the type of spikes, is it for long-distance track, or short, the stability, the material. The marketing will deliberately talk about who the shoe is made for. But more importantly, it'll talk about how the shoe will make the runner faster and more comfortable, and stable.

It's the same with your indie game. You need a combination of shiney images and pretty pixels PLUS you need to tell the gamer what your game is. You need both because a gamer isn't going to put in the effort.

Remember, a gamer isn't going to take the time to figure out your marketing message. Be specific. Tell them. Show them. What's intuitive to you, isn't obvious to them.

So how do you do this exactly?

The best way is to break down your game into 5 or 7 different tasks. Tasks are what the player will do in your game.

Then for each task, write down and explain how each task works.

So for example, my Roguelike, Post-Apocalyptic, Top Down Shooter game, let me show you one task:

Task 1: Scavenging

How it works: The player has to explore the open world and scavenge for materials, so they can upgrade their armor and weapons.

Three player actions:
• Action 1: Fight enemies, and collect the loot
• Action 2: Go through homes, buildings, caves, stores, and keep an eye out for rare materials
• Action 3: Use scavenged materials and craft new items

This is important to do because remember, you want to eliminate at least 95% of the players, and focus on the 5% that will be your target market. And like I said before, you can't get attention if you're too generic. Be as specific as you can because that's how you get attention in an overcrowded market.

Ok, next...

Step 3: Tell Gamers The Advantage They'll Get For Playing Your Game (And Talk Less About Features)

Let me go back to the track racer example. Say the shoe company talked about the material, the colors, how long it took to design the shoe, and the science that went into making it.

So what? The sprinter doesn't care about that. They care about if the material will make them comfortable, make them faster off the block, and keep them running FAST, and if the shoe will last.

That's all they care about. They care about comfort and speed and value.

They don't care about how long it took to design the shoe... or how hard the company worked on the science of making the material... again, the customer only cares if the shoe is comfortable, fast, and will last a long time.

It's the same thing with your indie game. Gamers don't care about HOW your game was made. They only care about if your game will be fun, entertaining, and worth the money.

For example, say you put 550 hours into developing a feature. Then show the gamer the benefits and advantages THEY get from your hard work. Show them that it took a long time because it would make their experience playing the game a bit better. Tell them all this effort put into the game was because you want the gamer to experience something that no other game has done before.

So, when creating your marketing material for your indie game (i.e. gifs, blogs, videos, screenshots), always ask yourself, "so what?". If you have a great feature... ask "so what?".

This will help you create a marketing message that shows an advantage. And if a player can cleary see an advantage to playing your game, it'll grab their attention and cut through all the noise..., and get them to play your game.

If You Want Gamers To Play Your Game, Then Here's Your Challenge...

This will only take you 7 to 10 minutes...

Grab a paper and pen, or open a google document. Tell me, what is your sub-genre? For example, RPG. What kind of RPG? Action RPG? Ok, what's the theme? Dark Fantasy. Ok, great. Now what's the combat type? Turn based. Perfect. You have a Dark Fantasy, Turn-Based, Action RPG.

Remember, here's the formula:

Main Genre: RPG
Sub-Genre: Action
Combat Type: Turn-Based
Setting / Theme: Dark Fantasy

Ok, next... come up with at least 5 tasks the player will get to do. Then explain how each of those tasks work. Then after, come up with 3 actions the player will have to take in order to accomplish that task.

Here's the formula:

1. Name 5 Tasks the player will do in your game
2. Explain how each tasks works
3. Come up with 3 actions the player will take in order to accomplish the task

So do this exercise above right now. And create your first content using that simple formula. It can be a YouTube video, TikTok, update your Steam page, a tweet, a reddit post. Take action right now, and you'll see that by specific you will start getting attention.

I know it takes effort. But when you're starting a business and trying to grow your game studio, there is NO quick-fixes, life hacks, trying to be efficient.

Everybody is so busy trying to figure out how to do hard stuff the easy way. But man, starting a game studio is one of the hardest things you can do.

You can't put in the least amount of effort and expert maximum profits.

And I know you're probably already at your max. And I'm not saying you need to grind. But you gotta sacrifice some time, and put in this effort to figure out how to market your game.

So don't just sit here and learn learn learn. Take action. It doesn't have to be perfect. Small steps. Take at least one idea you learned here, and put into action now -- and promise you that you'll get closer to finding more players and growing your audience.

And if you're still stuck and you want me to help you find players so you grow your audience and wishlist, then keep reading below.

But I highly recommend that you learn this on your own. Because starting a business means you need to know how to find customers.

What's Your Goal?

Launching soon, need wishlists? Click: Get Wishlists

Game sales low after launch? Click: Get Game Sales

Want to test a game idea to see if it's profitable? Click: Get Market Research

Thanks for reading. Again, my name is Daruisz. Good luck with game dev!

Later!

Dariusz Konrad
Email: dariusz at mainquestmarketing dot com
Discord Username: dariuszkonrad
LinkedIn: My entrepreneurial successes
Work: Game devs I've helped so far